コトフェッチ

kotofetch

kotofetch is a small, configurable CLI tool that displays Japanese quotes in the terminal. It comes with built-in quotes and allows users to customize display options such as padding, width, translation display, and text styles.

Contents

• Installation
  • Arch Linux / AUR
  • Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
  • Nix / NixOS
  • Prebuilt Binaries
  • From Source
• Requirements
• Configuration
  • Config File
  • Importing Anki decks
  • Custom quotes
• Usage
  • Translation Modes
  • Animations
• Autocompletion
• Community Showcase
• Contributing

Installation

Note

The latest release does not contain all the built-in quotes.
If you want all the built-in quotes, please add them manually by checking the quotes folder.

Arch Linux / AUR

You can install the stable release from the AUR using any AUR helper:

yay -S kotofetch

Or by cloning the AUR from here:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/kotofetch.git
cd kotofetch
makepkg -si

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

You can install kotofetch natively via Homebrew.

brew install kotofetch

Note

Huge thanks to the community member who independently packaged and submitted kotofetch to the official Homebrew Core repository!

Nix / NixOS

If you use Nix, you can install kotofetch using those commands:

git clone https://github.com/hxpe-dev/kotofetch.git
cd kotofetch
nix-build

Prebuilt Binaries

You can download prebuilt binaries for Linux, Windows and macOS from the Releases page.

System / Distribution	File Extension	Description
Generic Linux	.tar.gz	The most universal build. Extract and run the binary.
Debian / Ubuntu	.deb	Install using dpkg.
Fedora / CentOS / openSUSE	.rpm	For all RPM-based systems.
Windows	.exe or .zip	The standalone .exe is ready to run. The .zip contains the executable.
macOS	.tar.gz	Extract and run the binary.

From Source

Requires Rust and Cargo:

git clone https://github.com/hxpe-dev/kotofetch.git
cd kotofetch
cargo install --path .

After installation, you can run kotofetch from anywhere in your terminal.

Requirements

You need to have a Japanese font installed on your machine.

One popular choice is the Noto CJK Font.

Install Noto CJK Font on Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S noto-fonts-cjk

Install Noto CJK Font on Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install fonts-noto-cjk

Install Noto CJK Font on Fedora

sudo dnf install google-noto-cjk-fonts

Install Noto CJK Font on OpenSUSE

sudo zypper install noto-fonts-cjk

Install Noto CJK Font on macOS (with Homebrew)

brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts
brew install --cask font-noto-sans-cjk

Configuration

Config File

User configuration lives in:

~/.config/kotofetch/config.toml                       # On Linux
~/Library/Application Support/kotofetch/config.toml   # On macOS
%APPDATA%\kotofetch\config.toml                       # On Windows

Here you can customize:

• horizontal_padding / vertical_padding - spacing around quotes
• width - max width for text wrapping (0 for automatic width)
• show_translation - translation modes to display; accepts a single value ("english") or an array (["english", "romaji"]); available values: "none", "english", "romaji", "furigana"
• quote_color - named ANSI colors ("red", "yellow", "dim", etc.) or hex ("#ffcc00")
• translation_color - named ANSI colors ("red", "yellow", "dim", etc.) or hex ("#ffcc00")
• border_color - named ANSI colors ("red", "yellow", "dim", etc.) or hex ("#ffcc00")
• font_size - small, medium, or large (adds spacing between characters)
• bold - bold Japanese text (true/false)
• border - show a box border (true/false)
• rounded_border - show rounded border (need border to be enabled) (true/false)
• source - show the quote source (true/false)
• modes - list of quote files to use (any .toml file in ~/.config/kotofetch/quotes/ or built-in)
• seed - RNG seed for random quotes (0 for random seed)
• centered - center text (true/false)
• dynamic - dynamic re-centering of the text (true/false)
• furigana_position - show furigana "above" or "below" the Japanese text (default: "below")
• animation - animated reveal on startup: "none" (default), "typewriter", "scramble", "slide"
• animation_duration_ms - total duration of the animation in milliseconds (default: 1000)

Example config.toml:

[display]
horizontal_padding = 3
vertical_padding = 1
width = 50
show_translation = ["furigana", "english"]
quote_color = "#a3be8c"
translation_color = "dim"
border_color = "#be8ca3"
font_size = "medium"
bold = true
border = true
rounded_border = true
source = true
modes = ["proverb", "anime"]
seed = 0
centered = true
dynamic = false
furigana_position = "above"
animation = "scramble"
animation_duration_ms = 1500

Importing Anki decks

You can import your Anki decks as kotofetch quote files using the AnkiConnect plugin.

Requirements:

1. Anki desktop must be running.
2. AnkiConnect must be installed (plugin code: 2055492159).

Interactive import:

kotofetch init anki

This connects to http://localhost:8765, shows your available decks, and walks you through mapping note fields (japanese text, translation, furigana reading) interactively.

Non-interactive import (for scripting):

kotofetch init anki \
  --deck "Core 2k" \
  --japanese-field Expression \
  --translation-field Meaning \
  --furigana-field Reading \
  --romaji-field Romaji \
  --yes

Each imported deck is saved as ~/.config/kotofetch/quotes/<deck-name>.toml. After importing, use it with:

kotofetch --modes <deck-name>

Furigana support: if your note's japanese field contains Anki's native furigana syntax (食[た]べる), it is automatically converted to kotofetch's inline format (食(た)べる). If the japanese field has no readings, the furigana field is used as a fallback. HTML ruby tags (<ruby>/<rt>) are also converted.

Custom quotes

Built-in quotes are embedded in the binary. To add your own quotes, create:

~/.config/kotofetch/quotes/                       # On Linux
~/Library/Application Support/kotofetch/quotes/   # On macOS
%APPDATA%\kotofetch\quotes\                       # On Windows

• Place any .toml file there.
• The filenames can be arbitrary, the program automatically reads all .toml files in this folder.
• Each .toml must follow this structure:

[[quote]]
japanese = "逃(に)げちゃダメだ"
translation = "You mustn't run away."
romaji = "Nigeccha dame da"
source = "Neon Genesis Evangelion"

[[quote]]
japanese = "人(ひと)は心(こころ)で生(い)きるんだ"
translation = "People live by their hearts."
romaji = "Hito wa kokoro de ikiru nda"
source = "Your Name"

Note: Furigana readings are embedded inline in the japanese field using parentheses: kanji(reading). The reading immediately follows the kanji it annotates. Compound (multi-kanji) words can share a single reading, e.g. 大事(だいじ). Kanji without a (reading) after them simply have no annotation. The parentheses are automatically stripped in non-furigana display modes.

• These custom quotes automatically merge with the built-in ones.

You can see the built-in quotes in the quotes folder.

Usage

kotofetch                                                   # display a quote following the config
kotofetch --translation furigana                            # display furigana readings below kanji
kotofetch --translation english,romaji                      # display both English and romaji
kotofetch --furigana-position above                         # show furigana readings above the Japanese text
kotofetch --horizontal-padding 3                            # override specific config parameter temporarily
kotofetch --modes anime,mycustomquotes                      # display quotes from specific files
kotofetch --animation typewriter                            # animated reveal on startup
kotofetch --animation scramble --animation-duration-ms 2000 # scramble with a 2-second duration

Translation Modes

Mode	Description
none	Japanese text only
english	Shows English translation below Japanese
romaji	Shows romaji (romanized Japanese) below Japanese
furigana	Shows furigana readings below kanji (if available)

Multiple modes can be combined by passing a comma-separated list: --translation english,romaji or --translation furigana,english. Modes are displayed in the order given.

Furigana displays readings aligned with their kanji, supporting both single-kanji annotations (知(し)) and compound words (大海(たいかい)). Only quotes that include inline ruby markup in their japanese field will show furigana readings. Use --furigana-position above (or furigana_position = "above" in config) to render readings above the Japanese text instead of below.

Animations

Animations play once on startup, revealing the Japanese text, furigana, and translation together. They are skipped automatically when output is piped.

Animation	Description
none	No animation (default)
typewriter	Characters appear one by one, left to right
scramble	Characters cycle through random kana/ASCII before settling into the real text
slide	Text streams in from the left

Use --animation-duration-ms to control the total playback time (default: 1000 ms).

When combined with --dynamic, the animation plays once on the first frame and the dynamic re-centering loop takes over afterwards.

Autocompletion

You can get the script by running this command:

kotofetch completion <SHELL>

The setup depends on the specific shell.

The supported shells are those supported by the currently used clap_complete version.

Community Showcase

A huge thanks to the community members who shared their setups!

Setup by @hxpe	Setup by @coko_7
Setup by @kikeijuu	Setup by @QL_Leo

Contributing

Contributions are welcome (donations too, they support me a lot in my work)! Here's how you can help:

If you use any AI tools for your contribution, please specify which AI tool was used and for what in the commit message.

1. Fork the repository.
2. Clone your fork locally:

git clone https://github.com/hxpe-dev/kotofetch.git
cd kotofetch

3. Create a branch for your changes:

git checkout -b feat/my-feature

4. Make changes and commit:

git add .
git commit -m "Add my feature"

5. Push your branch:

git push origin feat/my-feature

6. Open a Pull Request on GitHub!

---

Made with ❤️ by hxpe
If you enjoy kotofetch, consider starring the GitHub repository!